Pictures

Wishing you all a beautiful and blessed Christmas and New Year!

Remodeling

Here are some pictures of our remodeling project. It is coming along nicely. It was a pleasant surprise to come home (from Kentucky) to a nearly completed room! The pictures aren't the greatest as the walls are still wet with primer, so I was trying not touch anything!

from the far wall looking toward the rest of the house

from the door to enter the room
looking into the bathroom

Now we have to choose a paint palette and accessories. Any ideas?!

and things keep going...

Where to start?! Well, our addition is coming along nicely. I forgot to load the pictures, so I will have to post those later...anyway, the drywall is going up as I type this, which is exciting. They are hoping to have the drywall completed by Monday. Then the plumber should be returning to hook up the bathtub/shower, toilet, and sink . I am keeping my fingers crossed that all of these will go as planned.

Tonight, we are leaving for Kentucky. My brother is flying into Louisville tonight. He will be staying with my parents until December 18th, so we are going down to visit with him. We haven't seen him since last February and he is being deployed to Iraq in January, so I definitely want to see him! I am sure it will be a good visit.

ohhh...in a previous post I mentioned Cailin's "walking" and she is now walking everywhere. She still resorts to crawling when she wants to get somewhere fast, but she trys to walk everywhere. She looks so darn cute walking around...she seems so little to be walking...

Cassidy is really developing a sense of humor...she makes me smile. She loves to "read" and be read to, and she loves to color in her coloring books, on walls, tables, really wherever. We are trying to curb the whole coloring on anything...

Well, I have to finish packing for our trip...

Holiday Season

Wow! I need to be better about updating this...sorry!

I cannot believe it is December 1st! This year has flown by with so many blessings and adventures. Since Halloween we have had some big developments in the Hart household.

First, we have decided to put an addition on our house that consists of a bedroom and bathroom. This will provide enough room to make our home much more comfortable. We currently have 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom, which makes it a little crowded with 2 adults and 2 children. Adding this space will also give us a bit more room when we have people to visit, so that will be nice too! (Pictures will be posted soon!)

Secondly, our littlest pumpkin, Cailin, has started "walking." She takes, at most, 5 steps. Each day she is getting a little steadier and bit braver. She is certainly excited to be able to chase Cassidy around the house even though she is a fast crawler! Cailin is 10 months old and doing very well developmentally. She is a bit of a Mama's girl and she adores her big sister.

Finally, Cassidy is potty training...oh wait...no she isn't...wishful thinking! Cassidy has absolutely no desire to sit on the potty. I have tried stickers, encouragment, and we bought her a little seat that allows her to sit on the big potty...she doesn't care...*sigh* I will have to resign myself to the fact that she just isn't quite ready yet...let's hope that things will turn around in the next couple months! I am keeping my fingers crossed! :-)

In other happenings...Thanksgiving went well. We enjoyed a lovely meal at Shirley and Abe's house surrounded by family. This year we are especially thankful for our service men and women. Currently, Lucas' uncle Terry is serving in Iraq with the Army Corp of Engineers. Terry is actually in the Navy, but he is an engineer on loan to the Army. He is supervising rebuilding efforts, which include water treatment facilities, schools, and a prison. He will be returning to us right before Christmas and we cannot wait to see him! Also, my brother, Josh, is in the Air Force and will be deployed to Iraq in January. I am wishing him a safe journey and a safe and swift return to the states. In addition, Lucas' brother, Derek, will be deployed to Afghanistan next March. He was in Iraq for a year, '05-'06. Derek serves in the Army and works in Military Intelligence. We look forward to a time when our service people will be home without the thought of being deployed to these war torn areas. We pray that time will come sooner rather than later.

We wish you all a blessed holiday season.

*disclaimer: You may notice that Cailin has more of her own photos, well that happens because Cassidy has decided that she doesn't like to sit, stand, or be still very often...she is a mover!

Happy Halloween!

What a lovely evening! We could not have asked for better weather this Halloween. When we left our house at 5:30 it was 64 degrees! It stayed pleasant entire evening! We started our evening at the Hart's. We enjoyed some pizza and cupcakes. The girls got some special treats from Grandmom and Grandad. We suited them up in their costumes, took some pictures, and head out. We stopped at Great Grandma Magnus'. She thought Cassidy and Cailin looked adorable as a cowgirl and a butterfly. We visited with Grandma and Uncle Ed then headed out to Abe and Shirley's. There, Cassidy and Cailin received some more special treats and then they helped hand out candy. We stayed and visited with Abe and Shirley, which was nice. Caleb stopped in and so did Cameray and her friend Christa. It was a short but enjoyable Halloween.

Have a great weekend! Don't forget to change your clocks!

Kentucky & Louisville Zoo

This weekend we went to Louisville, KY to visit Lucas' brother Derek and his wife Emily and to root on the runners in the family during the Louisville Marathon and Half Marathon. It all started on Friday...Lucas took a half day at work, so we loaded up the Tahoe, dropped the dogs at the kennel, and settled in for a 7+ hour drive to Louisville. After listening to Barney for about 4 hours, a couple naps, pit stops, and a little crying we arrived in Louisville. We had decided to stay at a hotel, so we checked in and Lucas took Cassidy for a swim (she was a little wound up from the ride!). We relaxed after that long, long drive. On Saturday morning we headed over to Derek and Emily's house for some bagels and coffee. Then Lucas and I took the girls to the Louisville Zoo. We met up with my parents and had a great adventure. The Louisville Zoo is very nice and we went early enough that most of the animals were out and about.

It was great afternoon. After the zoo we went to Cumberland Brew's for lunch, which was nice. I had a delicious grilled chicken salad with apples...yum! Then we went back to the hotel so the girls could take a nap. They were quite tired from our morning and afternoon. My parents visited for a bit and then headed home. After naps we met up with the Hart family and headed to Wick's for pizza...we enjoyed the Big Wick, which is a ridiculous 10lb. pizza.

On Sunday we headed to downtown Louisville to watch the finish for the marathon and half marathon. Caleb, Vickie, Janette, and Christine participated in the half marathon. They all did really well. Bill and Tom Ryan participated in the marathon. Bill had his best marathon time ever and qualified for the Boston Marathon. Yay! After the race we headed back to the hotel for some naps and then headed to the James' for a birthday celebration for Bill and Vickie. We had a lovely time. The food was great, especially the birthday cake! Yum! What a lovely evening. Then it was back to the hotel for bed. We woke up early Monday morning, packed up our things, and headed back to Michigan.

7 hours later...we arrived home, unpacked, picked up groceries, and relaxed from all that driving...

Pumpkins

Happy October! I have to say that I absolutely love summer and warm weather, but Fall is such a beautiful time here in Michigan. There are colors everywhere and the weather is crisp and clean, with occasional smell of someone burning leaves. It is apple season too! YUM! With that being said, we took the girls to Johnson's Giant Pumpkin Farm. We had never been there before so we weren't prepared for all the activities. We are planning on taking the girls back...maybe a weekday evening, so we can enjoy some of the activities. They have a tractor train, a soybean maze, a small petting zoo, warm donuts, and cider. We just walked around and picked put a couple pumpkins. I think Cassidy would enjoy the tracto train, so we may go back during the week when it is a little less busy. It was a fun experience though.

Last night we had Sunday dinner with the Hart clan, the Ryan's, and Perla (Aunt Vicki, Uncle Terry, and Cameray's exchange student). Aunt Vicki made a roast with potatoes and carrots. Then we had apple and pumpkin pies! Yum!

It is the last week of soccer. Lucas' last game is Thursday, October 9th. It seems like this season took so long, but flew by at the same time...

Have a beautiful day! Enjoy!

Doors and other things...

Mom of the Year moment: Yesterday, the girls and I were at home and I stepped out onto the back porch. I went out to fill up the dogs water. While I am waiting for the bucket to fill I hear the back door shut. No big deal, Cassidy had this thing about making sure all doors are shut. I finish with the water and go to the door, turn the knob, and can't get the door open...yep...Cassidy locked me out of the house. Now, if you are familiar with Cassidy you know that she likes to be outside. We live on a very busy road, so I have to keep the doors locked/deadbolted at all times so she doesn't get out when she is not suppose to. Well she apparently learned how to lock the deadbolt. So I look through the window of the door and see Cassidy looking at me. I say through the door, "Cassidy please open the door for Mama." She responds, "No, mama!" This goes on for about 30 seconds. Since it doesn't look like she is going to open the door I start thinking about how I am going to get into the house. I will a.) convince Cassidy to open the door, or b.) have to break into the house with as minimal damage as possible. So, I finally get the screen popped out of Cassidy's room and cram myself awkwardly through the window. To make matters worse, the entire time this is going on I can hear Cailin screaming because she is stuck in her high chair...yep...great day!
Apparently our high chair has magical powers of sleep!

Overall, things are going pretty well here in F-muth. Lucas is wrapping up soccer. He has two weeks left. He and Caleb are pretty excited about that...they enjoy coaching, but it makes for a long September. The girls and I have been busy. We joined a Wednesday morning bible study. I get to enjoy some time with other Moms and the girls get to play with other kids. It is a win-win situation. We also had our second MOPS/MOPPETS and it was quite fun. I enjoyed a lovely speaker about the adventures of motherhood. Cassidy and Cailin enjoyed some more kiddie time.

This weekend Lucas' friend got married and he stood up in the wedding. Unfortunately, children were not invited and family members were unavailable to babysit, so I stayed home with the girls. We had a nice Friday and Saturday. Friday we hit up a garage sale and scored big on winter pajamas. Then we visited with Abe and Shirley and got to hear about their trip to Portugal. (It was great!) Then Abe was kind enough to make us some delicious spaghetti. I took the girls home, gave them baths, read a few books, and put them to bed (only Cassidy wouldn't go to bed...that is entirely different story.) Yesterday (Saturday) we played outside and a did a little fall decorating. It was a beautiful day!

Cassidy in her jammies watching out the window.

8 months

Cailin Marie Hart was born 8 months ago today. It is amazing how much she has grown and changed in such a short time period. Recently, she has started pulling herself up to the furniture. She is also really crawling now. For awhile she just slide herself across the wood floor.

She fell asleep while chomping on zwieback toast (she is teething).

Up on all fours waiting to get into the bath.

For the most part she is a happy baby, but she doesn't like to sleep which doesn't always make for a happy mama! She loves to watch her sister in action, cuddle, and play in the water. I think bath time is her favorite.

I want the camera!

Here is a look at our 8 month old baby girl!

Fall

September is here, so that means it is soccer time in the Hart household. Lucas is coaching Frankenmuth JV boys again this year. Soccer started in August, but the season officially got busy starting in September with a couple games during the week and two weekend tournaments. This means the girls and I don't see much of Lucas but the season is over in early October...not too much longer.

Nothing too exciting on the homefront. I am just enjoying spending time with the girls. They are growing by leaps and bounds. I can't get over how these two little girls we have been given. Cassidy is talking in beginning sentences and repeats everything you say...we have to be careful of how we speak! Cailin is getting so strong. She can walk herself in the walker, and she has started pulling herself up to the furniture. Last night she pulled herself up inside her crib and was so proud of herself! They are really starting to play together. Well...Cailin watches and chews on toys while Cassidy tries to play with the toys.

I have joined the local MOPS program (http://www.mops.org/). The girls go with me and participate in MOPPETS (supervised play groups). We have only attended the first meeting, but I think this will be a very positive experience for us. We are also looking into joining the Mothers In Touch bible study which is on Wedneday mornings. The girls would be able to have play group that day as well. I am acting as co-leader to a Junior Girl Scout troop again this year. We have an exciting year planned. We had ou first official meeting last night and it went very well.

Here are a few pictures. Enjoy!

Cassidy colored her face with permanent marker! Playing with the dollhouse.

Cailin "Walking" in her walker...with some help from Cassidy!

Presque Isle - Labor Day

What a weekend! We had a great adventure. Friday evening we packed up the Tahoe, loaded up the camper and headed 3 hours north to beautiful Presque Isle. We arrived at the campground around 9:30pm, met up with Lucas' parents, and set up our camper. We let Cassidy run around a bit. She had slept a portion of the trip, so she was pretty wound up once we arrived. We enjoyed a campfire for a bit and headed to bed.

Saturday morning, Janette made breakfast. It was delicious. (I think everything must taste better when you make it over a fire or on a camp stove!) Then we headed out on the bikes. We went to the Old and New Presque Isle Lighthouses. While we were at the New Presque Isle lighthouse, we saw they were advertising a free-will donation picnic, so we decided to have lunch before we biked back to the campground. It was a lovely picnic lunch of hot dogs or brats, potato salad, baked beans, lemonade and brownies. It was quite nice! I think Cassidy's favorite part was the swingset. We couldn't get her off the swings. After our picnic, we biked back to the campground, packed up a bag, and headed to the beach at Grand Lake. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon at the beach. The girls both went swimming and Cassidy played in the sand. After a lovely afternoon at the beach, we headed back to the campground, got cleaned up, took Cassidy to the playground, and got dinner together. After dinner we relaxed by the fire and enjoyed the beautiful starry night.

Sunday morning we had breakfast with Abe and Shirley aboard the Loon-A-Sea. Shirley made a delicious breakfast which included sausage gravy and biscuits (my favorite!). After breakfast, Lucas and I took Cassidy and Cailin back to Grand Lake while Bill and Janette went canoeing on Lake Esau. After canoeing, they joined us at the beach for lunch and relaxation. We enjoyed another perfect day at the beach. Afterward, we headed back to the campground. We enjoyed another biking adventure (with ice cream), and then made foil dinners. After dinner we relaxed by the campfire and enjoyed another starry night. Cailin wasn't sleeping well, so I sat with her by the fire and we saw a shooting star. What a way to complete our beautiful weekend!

It was a wonderful end to our summer....now we are planning our fall camping trips!

Labor Day

We are off to enjoy a camping trip in Presque Isle. I am looking forward to sharing this spot with our girls. It was/is a favorite spot of the Hart family. Grandma Jane and Grandpa Fritz lived there for several years while taking care of a lighthouse.

Look for pictures to come from our camping adventure!

These are the days of our lives...

Unbelievable, Cassidy is 2 years old. I can't quite comprehend how much she has grown in the last 2 years. What an amazing little girl we have been given to love and nurture.

We celebrated Cassidy's birthday up in Au Gres. My parents, Lucas' parents, Cameray, Cassidy, Cailin, Lucas, and I spent the weekend at the boat. We took a little boat ride out to the Charity Island. We went up to the lighthouse and played on the beach. It was a lovely weekend despite Cassidy not feeling the greatest on Sunday morning. She recovered and was pretty happy the rest of the weekend. It was great to spend time surrounded by people who love Cassidy as much as we do.

Lucas, Cassidy, Cailin, and I in front of Charity Island Lighthouse

Cassidy opening her present from Cameray

I can't wait to see what the next year brings for our beautiful little girl.

Raisin Bran

Who needs cereal?! Apparently we don't, because Cassidy decided to dump an entire box of Raisin Bran on the floor. The joys of having a toddler!

August...What?!

I can't believe it is August already...the summer is going by far too fast. Life is going pretty well. The girls just keep amazing me. Cassidy is such a little chatterbox. Everyday she amazes me with her vocabulary. It is especially amazing to hear her sing along with her CD's and DVD's of children's songs. She can basically sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star...

Cailin is growing so fast. We had her 6 month well baby check-up. Cailin weighs 15 lbs. 12 oz. and she is 25.75 inches long. She is getting so big. She is really moving herself around. Cailin rolls all over the floor. She tries to follow Cassidy around by rolling after her.

We have enjoyed some time on the boat. We took a long weekend and went up to the boat. Then we decided to head over to Caseville. We went swimming, walked around town, and enjoyed a sunset dinner on Friday. Saturday it was a little overcast, but it cleared up and we went swimming at Sand Point. Sunday it was beautiful and clear, so we headed back to Au Gres and enjoyed some time at the marina. Then we headed home. It was a nice weekend. One highlight was how brave Cassidy has become. She started jumping off the back of the boat into the water. She is such a big girl!

Vacation, Vacation

Wow! The summer is flying by. We have been enjoying the beautiful warm weather. We just returned from a wonderful vacation in Tennessee.

The Hart clan descended upon Gatlinburg, TN where we rented a beautiful cabin. It had 5 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, pool access, a hot tub, and the most gorgeous view.

I could have stayed at the cabin the entire week, but our vacation was made even better by the nearby access of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). We divided our time between relaxing and taking wonderful hikes throughout the park. The girls had so much fun surrounded by their favorite people. Cassidy's vocabulary definitely increased with all the attention lavished on her! She is so much fun! Cailin was a trooper in her backpack. Some highlights:

Lucas & Cassidy at Greenbrier

*hiking to Laurel Falls with Cassidy and Cailin

*seeing my parents

*spending time with the family

*hiking Mt. LeConte to stay at LeConte Lodge

*I (Alicia) hiked 23 miles in 48 hours and it felt amazing!

*hiking to and seeing Ramsey Cascades

Ramsey Cascades

*seeing a full double rainbow over the valley (Breathtaking!)

This picture doesn't do it justice, but this is the beginning of the rainbows

There were so many memories made this last week, and I am so grateful that we had this time with our girls and our family.

Blessings

It's June already!

Wow! It is June already! I cannot believe it.

Memorial Day weekend we went to Au Gres to spend the weekend on the boat. It was nice weekend. It was kind of windy on Saturday, so we decided to drive over to Tawas. We walked around downtown, played at the playground, and enjoyed lunch at Mulligan's. We returned to Au Gres and grilled dinner with Uncle Abe & Aunt Shirley. On Sunday, we woke up and it was beautiful, so we got cleaned up and hopped on Abe & Shirley's boat and went to Caseville. Cassidy isn't too sure of riding on the boat. I think she is a little scared of the noise. Cailin on the other hand just falls asleep as soon as we start moving. Anyway...we went to Caseville and walked around downtown, had lunch at Guiseppe's, and shopped a bit. It was a beautiful day. Then we headed back to Au Gres. We took our time getting back enjoying the view of the Charity Islands. When we got back we got the kids cleaned up and headed out to dinner at the Rainbow. We had a great dinner, enjoyed some ice cream when we got back to the boat, and got the kiddies to bed. On Monday, we packed up our stuff and headed home. Then we went to Lucas' parents house to enjoy and lovely BBQ. I am glad the weather was nice for our long weekend.

We have been enjoying some intermittently nice weather since Memorial Day. The temps have been okay, but we have been getting off and on rain. When it has been nice the girls and I have been going outside, playing at the park, and enjoying the warm weather. Cassidy walked the entire length of the Heritage Park Riverwalk (~1 mile). We enjoyed looking for ducklings, rocks, and flowers.

Cassidy is talking much more. She consistently says more, please, mama, dada, sis, Peyton, Sadie, help, and up. She loves to watch for motorcycles and calls them mo-mo's. Cassidy is into everything and tries very hard to be helpful. Lately, she likes to Swiffer the floor for me. Unfortunately, potty training isn't really going...she still doesn't quite understand the feeling right before she has to go potty. She knows when she has a dirty diaper though! Funny story...I was giving her a bath the other morning and while I stuck my head out the door to check on Cailin, Cassidy stood up in the tub, then squatted back down in the water. I didn't really think anything of this behavior because she often likes to stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down...well all of a sudden I see a little "log" floating in the tub...You guessed it...Cassidy pooped in the tub. *sigh* I had to get her out of tub, gather all of her bath toys, scoop out the poo, disinfect the tub, disinfect the bath toys, and give Cassidy another bath. It was quite the morning! Phew!

Cailin had her 4 month well baby and she is 13 lbs. 12 oz. and 24 inches long. She is getting so big! Dr. says she is nice and healthy. He also said we can introduce rice cereal and other bland foods if we want. I am not sure we are quite ready for that yet, but we may give it a try and see how she does. Cailin started rolling over last Friday. She doesn't quite know what to do when she rolls onto her belly, but I am sure she will figure it out. She absolutely loves being in her exersaucer. She also loves to play with her feet and just decided they are good to chew on! She is silly.

All in all...life is going pretty well. We will be going up north this weekend. It is suppose to be 90 degrees tomorow and 80+ this weekend. I hope it isn't too windy so we can enjoy the water.

Have a grateful day!